Derrick



s.. ESTES DERRICK mlm Jan., 2, m24

New@ l W. S. ESTES bsmucx lNava 10,

2 Shoots-Shut 2 A TTOR NE Y Filed Jan. 22. 1924 :51.11 lllfr| Patented Nov. 10, 1925.

oUNlTED STATES '"LKER S. ESTES, 0F TULSA, OKLAHOMA.

DEnnIox.

Application led January 22, 1924. Serial No. 687,684.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALKER S. ESTES, a citizen of the vUnited States, residing at Tulsa, in the county of Tulsa and State olfy Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Derricks; and I do declare vthe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, and to the figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to derricks used in the oil fields and it particularly .relates to drilling and pumping derricks, the primary object being to provide an oil well pumping derrick Which maybe re-enforced temporarily-so that it will be adapted for use in drilling the Well. p p

Prior to my invention, it had been the custom, in some instances, to erect a light steel pumping derrick, which was reenforced with heavy steel doubler legs, removable after the drilling operation. This practice has never become popular; how ever, due to the preference all drillers have -for Wooden derricks for drilling purposes and due to the great cost of the steel doublers and the difficulty in handling and applying them, on account of their Weight, a design, satisfactory to the oil trade, has never been perfected.

In the operation of drilling a Well, it has heretofore been considered necessary to employ avery strong-and heavy derrick, but, when the drilling is completed, a relatively light derrick sulicient for pumping purposes isl employed. The usual practice has been to originally employ a heavy and expensive derrick for the drilling operation, and tov continue to use the same derrick for the light work of pumping until the derrick is no longer serviceable because of deterioration, whereupon it is replaced by an ordinary light pumping derrick, usually made of steel.

It is obvious that either of the practices outlinedA above involves va vast waste of time, labor, and money,- and that great economies would be accomplished by some practical re-enforcing-means, so' that alight pumping vderrick would be originally installed, and which could be ire-enforced to render it suiiciently strong for the heavy Work of drilling and which would permit the removal ofthe 1re-enforcing means upon completion ofthe drilling, thereby leaving the ordinary light pumping derrick.y The re-enforcing means, when removed, Would be availablefor use in connection with other drilling operations, or for any other heavy ywork, such as pulling casing. The reenforcing means can be used for any purpose around an oil Well after it is, removed and as timber is frequently scarce in an oil Vsteel derrick is too rigid to provide the requisite spring generally considered desirable in an oil Well drilling derrick. The Wooden derrick, however, compresses longitudinally as a result of the pull of thev cable, storing up energy which causes a springlike rebound to be communicated to the cable due to the resiliency of the Wood. This not only permits the Wooden derrick to act as a shock absorber but gives an upward snap or lift to the cable, tending to give a quick initial lifting impulse which, in the .oil Well drilling industry, is considered highly desirable. derrick is employed, the operator. has the advantage of the spring in the cable plus the spring in the wood. i

It should be here noted that the Weight of Thus where a Wooden the long strings of heavy pipe or casing during the drilling operation causes longitudinal compression of the verticals or legs of the Wooden derrick several` inches whenever an abnormal strain is put on the line and that -the Wood is resilient enough to recover When the strain is taken4 olf, Whereas there can be no appreciable longitudinal compression of the steel on account of its inherent rigidity.

I have found p well can be materially reduced by reversing the general order of rocedure, in that I first erect a relatively ight oil well pumphat the cost of drillingv the i connection'with another steel derrick dur` ing the period required for drilling a well and it is by no means an unimportant feature of m invention that the wooden timbers may e re-applied to the steel pumping derrick after they have been once removed,

should it become necessary to again re-en- :torce the steel derrick for the purpose of pulling casing or for similar purposes after the well has ceased to produce or whenever eX edient.

gince the timbers can be used again and again as re-enforcing means for the light steel derrick under the conditions above specified and since they can be .finally used after all of the locations7 have been drilled, it will be apparent that the cost of the lumber'used by an oil well driller on any one location will be practically negligible and byv erecting the pumping derrick first and re-enforcing it temporarily the necessity for the erection of a standard drilling rig derrick whether all wood, all steel, turnbuckle, or light steel derrick reen forced with steel doublers will be eliminated. Thus the manner of erecting the rig as outlined by me'has certain inherent a vant-ages over the old method since the steel pumpin derrick will have a longer period of use ulness than a wooden derrick and therefore, will not have to be renewed as often as a"wooden derrick must be reconstructed.

- There are other advantages of my invention over methods heretoforey employed and I. have provided a novel construction of derrick which will be fully described hereinafter, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a ragmentar perspective vien of a derrick constructed 1n accordance w1th my invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the completed derrick.I

Vone of the legs of the steel derrick throughv the fillers andgthrough the wooden legs andv a clamping means for securin g h the parts .tei get er.

Fig. 5 is a similar view showing a slightly modified lform of clamp.

Fig. 6 is a like view showing an additional form of clamp.,

Fig. 7 is a cross sectional view through a further modified form, and

Fig. 8 is a similar view showing J-bolts for fastening the parts together.

The steel derrick structure is preferablyv erected on suitable foundations 1. The legs 2, 3, 4 and 5 are shown as comprising vertical angles running the entire length of the derrick. The legs will be made of structural steel shapes and of course, on account of their lengths, may be spliced as will be well understood. The legs are tied together in spaced relation by girts 6 and sway braces 7 fastened at their ends to the legs by gusset plates 8 which may be riveted 1n any well known manner, the 'diagonal or sway braces 7 and the girts 6, at suitable intervals may be provided with re-enforcing struts 8. The particular manner of tying in the vertical legs, in so far as the present invention is concerned, is not so important, however. At the top of the legs, 2., 3, 4 and 5 are end headers 9 and 10 inl the form of channels and on the sides are short channelshaped members 11 and 12,V the upper flanges of which at the corners of the structure provide seats or rests for the side headers 13 and 14 which carryend headers 13 and l4"upon which the crown block may rest during the pumping operation and carried by the upper end of the derrick are'the vertical gin poles 15 and 16 to be used in raising the crown block to the top of the den rick and for lifting the crown block pulleys for oiling, inspection or repairs as will be well understood.

It will be apparent that the headers 13 and 14 and the headers 13 and 14 are connected to make a substantially rigid rectangular frame. The headers 13 and 14 carry the load which is supported by the water table of the wooden derrick when compression takes place and the headers 13 and 14 constitute seats for the crown block when thev wooden structure is removed as will be clearly apparent by reference to Fig. 1.. y

The steel derrick may be made of comparatively light material because during the pumping operation the derrick will not be subjected to such longitudinal compression strain, shocks and jars as will be encountered during the drilling operation, so in order to provide the necessary strength and resiliency for drilling, I re-enforce the legs of the steel derrick by introducing reenforcing woodentimbers .17 of standard dimensions such as are available lin the Aoil ing provided with a recess 18 to receive a dowel 19 on the opposite end of the complementary timber so `that the timbers may be dowelled together. The timbers of course are of appropriate lengths, and fastened to the timbers at suitable intervals are filler boards or strips and 21 with spaces between their ends to provide spacesk 23 for the rivet heads, and bolts which pass through the gussets and through the angles. The fillers lie against, the legs of the angle-s as will be clearly apparent by reference to the drawing and the timbers are held in place by suit-able clamps, one of which is shown in Fig. 4 as consisting of hookbolts 24, the ends 24 of which overlap the legs of the angles. In Fig. 5 I have'shown the modified form as consisting of a chain 25 with pipes or sleeves 25 thereon bearing against the timbers 17l so that there can be relatively longitudinal movement of the timber or wooden legs with respect to the angles as will be presently explained. The ends of the clamping chain are fastened together by any suitable means as for eX- ample by a conventional form of clamp 26.

In Fig.'6 I have shown a modified form of clamp consisting of an angle strap 27 and an angle rod 28 fastened together by passing the ends of the rod through the strap 27 and securing the same by nuts 29. In Fig. 7 the clamp consists of two straps 3() and 31 fastened together by bolts 32 and 33 and in Fig. 8 J-bolts 34 .areemploye'd which pass through the timbers, through the fillers and have their hooked'ends engage the flanges of the steel` angle legs, the J-bolts being drawn up in the usual manner by tightening the nuts 35.

The re-enforcing timbers extendabove the metallic headers 9, 10. 13, 14. 13 and 14' and support the water table consisting of the side wooden hea-ders 36 and 37 and the end wooden headers 3S and 39, the headers 36 and 37 supporting the crown block 40 with the usual crown pulleys therein. By using any one of the clamping members the re enforcing timbers lwill be securely'fastened to the angles and I prefer to 're-enforce the angles from the inside since the wooden legs vor timbers are held in the angles of the legs by no other means than the clamps and 'it is apparent that they may be easily applied to the pumping derrick and as easily removed. When the wooden structure is in place the derrick becomes very much stronger than it was beforethe re-enforcing members were applied and during the drilling operation the major portion of the strain, shocks and jars is taken up bythe wood. Due to the natural resiliency of the wood in such vhigh structures there can be considerable longitudinal compression on the wooden legs which rest upon the foundaj tion member 1 and since the wooden water table is spaced above the steel-,tower supported by the wooden legs, it is observed that even under abnormal strains the longitudinal compression or .contraction of the legs may be several inches before the ends of the header members 36 and 37 restupon the metallic headers 13 and 14C but should the strain become great enough to compress the legs consisting of timbers, then the headers 36 and 37 will rest upon the headers 13 and 14L so that further compression will be opposed, although just as soon as the abnormal strain ceases, the inherent resiliency of the wood will allow^longitudina1 expansion of the-wooden legs to' permit the wooden water table to 11e-assume its original relation with respect to the metallic tower, therefore, during the drilling operation the driller will have the advantage of the spring of the cable 'plus the spring of the wood. l

When the drilling operation has ceased and it is desired to put the pump into operation, the entire wooden structure will be taken down, the crown block at-this time resting upon the headers 13 and 14 and the timbers vand clamps may be utilized lfor lreinforcing another derrick, the original steel derrick remaining over the well asa permanent structure, thus eliminating the necessity of purchase and erection of an addi# tional derrick, as well as interference with the operation of the well while the drill-ing derrick is being torn down and the pumping derrick being erected. (It is frequentlyl im possible to remove the drilling derrick for some time after the well is completed as it is needed constantly for' bailing, swabbing,

etc., which, if interfered with would endanger the welljas a producer, and lby my method the renforcing means can be removed, always having, a derrick standing). This is an im ortant point.

It will be observed that the ease and facility of applying the re-enforcing members and removing them for re-use willrender the cost of drilling a well lessexpensive than by presentknown methods and it will also be apparent that in the event that it becomes necessary to again re-enforce the oil pump derrick for the purposeof pulling tubing or pipes, the vertical timbers or legs may be again clamped vto the angle shaped legs of the metallic derrick without putting in the wooden water table or wooden header members and afterthe pipe pulling operathese timbers can be employed again and aga-in and iinally they may be cut upv into lengths for other structural uses.

Attention is also called to the factthat ini stead of tying. in the legs, of the Wooden derrick by separate braces the legs will be held in place because they are secu1'ed,'.tol

the legs of the steel derrick so the necessity for employing lumber for the tying-in members or bracesvis eliminated, then too, the cost of labor in constructing the wood derrick on account of its skeleton nature is considerably less than is required if a complete wooden derrick were constructed and then a steel derrick erected in its place. In other words the cost of the wooden derrick and the steel derrick structure constructed in 'accordance with my invention is greatly minimized as compared with the cost of erecting two derricks according to the generally accepted practice and yet I preserve all ofthe advantages ofthe use of a wood drilling derriclr, a. steel mmping derrick with many added advantages as will be observed from the above disclosure.

What I claim and desire kto secure by Letters-Patent is:

l. The combination with a steel derrick,

of removable wooden load carrying reenforcing members' for the legs of the derrick, having longitudinal movement independent of the derrick under load and means for removably securing the re-enforcing members to the legs of the derrick whereby the steel derrick can be left standing after the drilling operation to serve as a pumping derrick.

2. The combination with a steel derrick, of removable wooden re-enforcing members for the legs of the derrick, said re-enforcing members resting upon a foundation and extending above the ends of the legs of the derrick, and crown block supporting means carried by the wooden ree-enforcing members spaced above the steel derrick.

y3. The combination with a steel derriclr, of removable wooden re-enforcing members for the legs of the derrick, said re-enforcing members resting upon a foundation and extending above the ends of the legs of the derrick, crown block supporting means carried by the wooden re-enforcing meinbers.. spaced above the steel derrick, and headers carried by the upper end of the steel derrick td receive the crown block supporting means when the load on the crown block supporting members causes compression of the wooden re-enforcing members suiiicient to lower the crown block supporting means.

. 4. In combination with a. steel derrick, having legs angle-shaped in crossv section, wooden re-enforcing legs removably secured to the steel derrick.1 legs, the wooden legs extending above the legs of the steel derrick, and a water-table carried by the upper ends of the wooden legs.

5. In combination with a steel derrick having angle-shaped legs, wooden legs parallel with the steel legs, ller boards between the wooden legs and the steel derrick legs, and removable fastening devices for securing the wooden legs, the filler boards and the steel derrick legs together.

6. In combination with a steel derrick having angle-shaped legs, wooden legs parallel with the steel legs, filler boards between thev wooden legs and the steel derriclr legs, removable fastening devices for securing the wooden legs,-the filler boards and the steel derrick legs together, the wooden legs extending above the steel derricl, and a water table carried by the upper ends of the wooden legs.

i'. The combination with a steel oil well pumping derrick, of re-enforcing wooden timbers parallel with the legs of the steel derrick and extendingkabove the same, a water table carried by the upper ends of the wooden legs, and removable fastening means for securing the wooden legs to the steel derrick.

8. The combination with a steel derrick, of removable wooden load carrying re-enforcing timbers for the legs of the derrick, said re-enforcing members comprising connected sections, and means for fastening the timbers to the steel legs of the derrick to brace them, the timbers when in functional position having longitudinal movement under load independent of the steel derrick, the re-enforcing timbers being removable.

9. An oil well pumping derrick, a drill rig water table above the pumping derrick, longitudinally compressible legs for normally supporting the water table independently of the derrick, and means for removably connecting the Water table supporting legs to the legs of the derrick, said means permitting movement of the table supporting legs independently of the derrick legs.

10. An oil well pumping derrick, a drill rig water table above the pumping derrick, longitudinally compressible legs for the water table, and means for removably connecting the water table supporting legs to the legs of the derrick, said means permitting longitudinal movements of the water table supporting legs with respect to the legs of the derrick.

11. A derrick comprising a frame Work, a foundation therefor, reinforcing legs associated with said frame work but freely movable relative thereto, and an independent foundation for the legs, whereby yielding of the legs may occur Without distorting or straining the frame work.

1Q. A derrick comprising a framework', and reinforcing legs associated with said frame work but freely movablel relative thereto, whereby yielding of the legsl may occur Without distorting or straining the frame work.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

WALKER S. ESTES. 

